Everything Ends
by aaeiilnn
Summary: It's all catching up to them now. Death really shouldn't have been messed with. {Part III of Inevitable Series: Alternate Ending for Endgame}
1. Prologue

**The final multichaptered installation of the Inevitable series! Set some time after Backfire as an alternate ending to Endgame**

**_TW (for the entire story): character death, blood, sickness_**

**_Summary: It's all catching up to them now. Death really shouldn't have been messed with._**

**_Disclaimer: I don't own Marvel._**

**《A》**

Death is a collector. It is the biggest collection that one could possibly imagine. It fills up a room- No, a mansion. A planet?

Death can create a whole new _universe_ with the collection, and do it all again twice. Thrice.

The collection is endless, and it varies - difference in value, difference in importance. There's always the right time to go acquiring new additions to the collection, reaping it when the value is at its highest, and Death never failed to follow it to the precise second. It shows how patient Death can be.

But this patience is tested when a huge number of his possessions and some valued pieces of the collection had been _ripped_ from its places, returned to the land of the living.

Bringing the dead back to life, removing parts of the collection, was not unheard of. There were times when Death would take a piece and return it in a minute to raise the value of the life. Sometimes, it takes years before they are reborn again. But it all requires Death's permission.

These lives that had been taken were meant to stay in the collection and rest in peace. Some of these lives were among the most valuable pieces Death had collected for a while. These lives took years and decades and centuries and millenniums of Death's patient waiting and to have it stolen was nothing but an _insult_.

They did _not_ have Death's permission.

And so, Death will go collecting again.

**《A》**

**_"You can't hold on to what's gone._**

**_Don't try to fix it. Just move on."_**

**Team Starkid****_, "Everything Ends"_**

**《A》**

**Tell me what you think!**

**First actual chapter should be up soon, just doing some final edits.**

**Thanks for reading !**

_fin_jun162019_14:29_


	2. Happy Ending

**Thor didn't join the Guardians because he still has Loki and Heimdall in this universe. So he's gonna go travel with them instead! Enjoy!**

**《A》**

**_"Death took the first of them with barely a pull."_**

**《A》**

They could say the fight was one of the easiest they've ever had. But then they'd be lying.

Firstly, these creatures with far too complicated names to even say had no pattern or specific style of fighting. They were too driven by emotion, and that emotion is just pure, _raw_ anger. This could be used to their advantage if only the forefathers had placed just a little bit of luck on their side.

Secondly, they were severely outnumbered. (So, it seems the forefathers were no help.) Thor, Loki, and Heimdall were each magnificent fighters, but they only have a handful of other men on their side and what seems to be an endless stream of opponents. They had mistakenly challenged the beasts to battle nearer to their nests than they'd expected, so packs upon packs of the bloodthirsty creatures would arrive after they were able to rid of only a handful.

Lastly, this has been going on for almost an hour. An hour of struggling to get these creatures and their snarling mouths away would be enough to wear off the adrenaline bit by bit. One of the men who fought with them went down as his hand had become too exhausted to grip the sword he had. The beasts wasted no time tearing him apart, blood splattering across the battlefield, feasting in the middle of the fight.

No, this was _not_ the easiest battle. But still, it was bearable.

Together, they had been travelling the realms to ensure the peace and assure the kingdoms that Thanos had been permanently dealt with - regaling those who would listen with tales of Midgardian men and women fighting against the Mad Titan's children and army, of a green friend and champion who brought the lost back, a mortal who wielded the stones to save them all, and a woman who travels far across the stars to help those in need. Thor would tell these stories with such joy and excitement; Loki would be silent but sometimes conjure an image of Valkyrie on her steed, or Mjolnir flying through the air to hit Thanos just to amuse the children. Heimdall was content to listen as he stood quietly by the sides.

In this town that they had come across, an area far from the city of the realm, and therefore, they frustratedly accept, unimportant to those who rule, beasts had been coming and going to take their food and even the people themselves. Since the royalty had failed to do anything despite reports of the fourth woman going missing with nothing but blood trails to the nests of the creatures, Thor had placed it upon himself to deal with the situation on hand. This was not something he'd want anyone to suffer through, and the former king took a moment to thank the stars they had a Valkyrie watching over their own people.

After the three of them had gone to try and reason with the creatures, even offering them alternatives, it had been clear that they wanted nothing from them except the flesh off their bones. And then maybe keep the bones to have something to chew on once in a while.

Heimdall expressed his thoughts on the matter: These creatures were not developed ones as there were really no signs of them existing for a while. Most likely, they were a bad result of crossbreeding that had high results in reproduction. For something that hadn't existed up until recently, they had a very high population with members old enough to fight roughly against some gods.

And roughly fight they did. Only an hour later were they really making a huge progress. Loki had been working with some of the men who had marched to fight with them in order to herd some of the creatures to a separated area where Thor can do a trick of lightning to bring them down altogether.

A couple more tries, and what felt like days, they were finally able to see their enemies dwindling in numbers until they could barely see a new one joining the brawl. There was a bit of sadness, as Heimdall sees it, because they were practically running an entire species to the ground and making them extinct. But all traces of this thought slipped his mind as he saw the events that unfolded before him.

Heimdall took a moment to breathe. There weren't any beasts charging at him now. Most were going after Loki and the men who had led most of the creatures to their doom, and none of these things seemed to realize it was Thor, standing a couple of steps away from where Heimdall stood, who had brought their death to them. In this moment, Heimdall looked around to see the results of the battle and had noticed a stray who was left battling a man. Heimdall prepared to rush in and help, but it was proven too late when the man fell so suddenly and the beast tore his arm apart from his body. In its mad rage, it had also somehow taken the spear the fallen warrior had brought and flung it wildly through the air before blindly making its way to the last group Loki and the others had trapped. As Thor summoned his powers to end this bloody war, he had been oblivious to the fact the spear was headed towards him.

Heimdall noticed.

He could have intercepted with his sword. He could have warned Thor, or even pushed him out of the way. But, for a second there, a very crucial second, it was as if all sense of reason had been pulled from him. So, he went with the intercepting plan, but used his body rather than the sword.

In a blink of an eye, Heimdall fell to the ground as the spear impaled him through a critical spot. His blood watered the ground and silence surrounded him before the pain had come tumbling down on him all at once.

Vaguely, he could see Thor recover from his use of power before letting out a horrified shout as dropped down beside Heimdall who was already struggling to breathe. A flash of green by his side meant Loki had heard and appeared as soon as he was able. With no words, the God of Chaos went to kneel on his other side and checked the wound.

"I... I can't do anything for this." He announced grimly and quietly that only the three of them heard. "There's nothing I can do." Loki looked at Heimdall with apologies and terror in his eyes that no one else would see. But Heimdall had only looked back calmly, as if he was in peace.

"I had hoped," Heimdall whispered weakly, "to live longer and watch over you two. But the fates are not on my side today. It seems my death is now inevitable."

Thor shook his head, tears were starting to fall from his eyes. "No, no. There must be something we can do. I'll take you to the village." But Heimdall had been unable to hold back the sounds of protest as pain seared through him when he was moved. Unable to take the risk of making things worse, Thor was filled with pained acceptance at what was obviously about to come.

As his king began to cry by his side, he placed what focus he could on the other brother for a while. He gathered strength to take his hand and make Loki listen carefully to his words. "Watch over your brother, but do not forget to watch yourself." He warned, a meaningful look in his golden eyes that only Loki and select few would understand. "You've turned into a fine warrior and an even better man. Your mother would be proud."

His words brought tears to the god's eyes. Loki scrambled to turn away and stood up abruptly. With some excuse of making sure there were no other beast left, he turned to leave the two with nothing but a final nod of respect to Heimdall.

Thor barely registered his brother's departure as he could barely see through the tears blurring his vision. Heimdall couldn't help but feel sorry for the god who had suffered enough loss at such a young age. He couldn't help but curse the fate he had no choice but to accept as he watched the God of Thunder lose another part of him once more.

"Thor," his voice could barely be heard now, "you must take care of your brother. I fear something terrible may happen soon, and I can't be there for both of you now." He stuttered out. "_Never_ leave each other alone, do you understand me?"

Thor shakily nodded his head, wiping his hand across his eyes to clear his vision, but the tears wouldn't stop coming. "Thank you." He sincerely offered. Thor feels that more should be said but he couldn't get more words out as he watched someone he wholeheartedly admired and greatly respected die in his arms.

Heimdall smiled in understanding. His eyes drifted away as he slowly stopped fighting the pull of death. "I had only ever wished to see peace throughout the realms, my King. I hope I had done my part to help in that." He sighed, staring up at the cloudy sky. "It's just a shame the stars I have watched and grown to love through the years are not here to bid me goodbye one last time."

It took all of what remained in Thor's strength to push down his need to cry in mourning for his fallen companion. His hand, still shaking, had reached up to gently close the golden eyes that reminded him of safety and Asgard.

"Find peace, my friend." He whispered solemnly. "Go with the stars and find your peace."

**《A》**

**_"Not that I care for glory_**

**_I just want a story_**

**_With a happy ending for all."_**

**— Team Starkid, _"Happy Ending"_**

**《A》**

**I'm not very emotionally invested in Heimdall as I should be since most of the fanfics I find depicts him as an irritating enemy of Loki, but I do understand his importance and it breaks my heart that Idris Elba had wanted Heimdall to play a more important role and actually wanted to keep doing it because he enjoyed filming Ragnarok but Thanos killed him sigh**

**ngl this took me a while to post bc i got distracted with fanfiction from ao3 under the tag "not team cap friendly" and im-**

**Tell me what you think !**

_fin_jun272019_15:58_


	3. I Wanna Be

**The Guardians consist of Quill, Rocket, Young Adult Groot, Drax, Mantis, Gamora who was resurrected in Snap#5, and Nebula (who wanted to stay close to her sister). Enjoy!**

**《A》**

**_"The second was even easier. Death didn't have to do anything because it all happened on its own accord."_**

**《A》**

It started out as a normal day. They received a mission and were sent to investigate some groups suspected to have been the cause of some problems in some supposedly peaceful planet. Get in, investigate, confirm suspicions, find evidence, threaten, leave. It should have been a half hour mission that ended with the Guardians boarding their ship and probably leaving the criminals tied up in their houses as they go to report that the mission was over and they could finally collect some units. But they (the criminals they were hunting) had better weaponry than expected, and were guilty of more than just creating a mess in a marketplace. And so, they had left to retreat but were now being tailed by a more advanced ship across the galaxy.

So the day was still as normal as it gets.

"Just _once_," Gamora muttered, frustrated, but not surprised, at the turn of events. "All I'm asking for is one mission where we have all the facts, we come up with a plan that we follow each and every word of, then get the rest of the day off. Just one time. Is that really too much to ask?"

A deadpan voice answered from behind her. "Seeing who you work with, I doubt it'll ever be that easy." Nebula didn't move her eyes from the monitors on her side of the ship, but her hands moved quickly to use weapons available to her control to target the enemy. "The best solution would be not taking any missions."

"I am Groot!"

"That's right, Groot. No missions, no bounty, no fun." Peter approved before yelping as he moved the ship to avoid a lazer shot their way. All the passengers were thrown to the right side of their seats, and a few complaints from Groot ("I am Groot! I am Groot!") and Mantis ("I think I'm feeling very _very_ dizzy right now...") were said and ignored. Drax had only given a shout of excitement at the thrill of it all while the rest were focused on the enemy ship attacking.

"Rocket! Why are they still onto us? I thought you said you increased our speed last time you were messing with the engines." Peter snapped as they dove to avoid another attack and fired a shot of their own which, unfortunately, missed.

The team engineer rolled his eyes. "If you're forgetting the reason we retreated, I'll remind you, Star-_Lord-of-all-Idiots_. These guys got advanced stuff. I told you we should have taken that new ship we saw the other day."

"We didn't have the units for it!"

"I said '_take_', not 'buy'!"

"Yes," Nebula's bored voice cut through their argument amidst the loud explosions they were effectively avoiding. "Steal and get caught red handed so they could put you all back to prison and maybe there'll finally be a mission that goes right."

"Did you say red handed?" Rocket fired another attack on the enemy as he brought out a red prosthetic hand from his pack.

Drax burst out laughing. "Ha!" He exclaimed. "A red hand! Like what you said!" The last part was directed to Nebula who rolled her eyes and kept her focus on the fight.

"Is that from one of the guys we're running from?!"

"Why, yes, Quill. That's why one of their pilots are probably unavailable right now."

"I am Groot." The tree brought out the other pair of the hand with an expression of pride

"So, you all just tell us if you need a hand." Rocket snorted as he remembered the look on the drunk man's face as he took one of the hands.

"Well," Peter replied, "I'm sure that'll come in quite handy someday."

"Boys!" An irritated shout, with a very, _very_ hidden undertone of amused, broke the laughs that the two pilots were about to burst into. "We aren't running on unlimited power, but if you'd rather continue this discussion on those stupid hands, then I'd _gladly_ break yours so you could use the newly stolen."

Drax had been quick to point out a possible solution. "I could go and shoot from the outside again." He made to stand, but was immediately stopped by Gamora.

"I'll do it." She said, not noticing the glance Nebula spared her after claim. "I'm a much smaller target than you are." Without waiting for anyone's opinion, she stood and walked out. Nebula had shortly and silently followed.

"You don't have to do this." The blue one was quick to whisper when they were alone. "I could go instead."

Gamora shook her head. "You're more inclined to all this technology. It's better for you to stay here." The reason was weak since both of them knew how to operate the ship, but it was enough to make a point.

Nebula gripped her sister's arm tight, almost painfully. "You said you'd lessen your suicidal missions."

"I _did_." Gamora pulled her arm away from Nebula's hands. "And I am. This isn't suicidal. Drax has done it before, and I've done it before. We're both still alive."

Nebula narrowed her eyes at her sister, recognizing that this was one of those things she wouldn't be able to stop, then reached for her earpiece to turn it on. "I'll be handling my part of controls from here." She informed the rest of the crew as she changed the nearest screen to the one she was using earlier. If she couldn't stop Gamora, she'd have to just stay close as possible.

With a quick warning to the rest of the crew, Gamora had stepped out of the ship. Nebula watched her for a second before going back to the controls to ensure none of her own attacks would mistakenly hit her danger-seeking sister.

It went well. But good things were proven to not last forever as Rocket had alerted his crew to strap themselves in tight and that the ship was slowly going down. Quill immediately demanded that Gamora return inside, and she followed without question. Nebula's controls were one of the first to malfunction in the ship so, instead of heading back to her seat, she helped pull back the line tying Gamora to the ship. Their hands had only just touched as Nebula reached out to drag her sister in, but it didn't matter.

With the ship going down, Rocket and Quill were losing vision of their enemies and could only do their best in making their ship crash into land as gently and nonfatal as possible. They didn't see the huge missile heading their way and were helpless in avoiding it as it crashed into a critical spot.

The ship fell faster.

Blue hands found that they weren't holding green ones anymore, but that had only sunk in when the ship had violently met the ground.

It was a wreck and, as far as Nebula could see, the ship was unsalvageable. She stood up, fixing her dislocated bones as she went, and realized that their communicator wasn't working. Immediately, she set out to find where the others were when she found that the front part of the ship was a wreck above her and she was trapped in a deep crater. Realizing that the only one most likely to be with her was her green menace of a sister, Nebula's priority turned to finding her.

It didn't take long at all.

The fact that Gamora hadn't been able to shout out herself should've been the first sign that something was wrong.

The second sign would be the small stream of blood that she found. It was all too overwhelming, with everything happening so suddenly, that Nebula numbly followed the stream to the source. And she numbly stared at the source for two seconds (just _two_, because there wasn't any time to waste).

Gamora had recently dyed the tips of her black hair. She used a shade of blue that made Nebula stop in her tracks the first time she saw it because she knew that _that_ was _her_ shade of blue. And she knew that Gamora knew that too. But Gamora had only raised an eyebrow at Nebula's frozen, staring state before returning to whatever she was doing. Then they never talked about it.

If Nebula had been completely honest, it had touched her that her sister went as far as coloring her hair blue, but she prefers her sister's hair with a dark and beautiful shade of red. It made her look more dangerous, more striking. It was as if the red represented the blood of her enemies that dared to mess with her, and Nebula had always been supportive of whatever can make her and her sister look more terrifying.

But now, the red splattered across the black and blue hair was the most _irritating_ thing Nebula had ever seen and she wants to wash it off as soon as she can.

When she finally came to her senses, Nebula inhaled sharply and held back her tears - because she _doesn't_ cry and if she's going to start, now isn't a good time.

A long metal piece of the ship had impaled itself straight through Gamora's leg, but that wasn't the source of the stream of blood and it wasn't the biggest problem. Gamora was in an arched position because, more than the piece in her leg, she had fallen on a huge and sharp piece of rock that had also impaled itself straight through her back.

Nebula didn't know what to do.

A whimper called her attention, and she found Gamora trying to say something so Nebula leaned in closer.

"..._ket_..." Her weak whisper shook Nebula to her core. Never had she heard her sister sound so weak. "_Po...Pocket_."

"Pocket?" Nebula's own voice had also sounded the weakest it had ever been. "Pocket? What are you saying?"

In a moment of confusion, she let her eyes trail to her sister's pocket and noticed the corners of a familiar journal peeking out. She wanted to roll her eyes and slap some sense into her sister - _that's not what's important right now!_ \- but she took it nonetheless. Her metal fingers trembled as she took it as gently as she possibly could.

The plain brown leather journal had always been on Gamora's person at all times. She had acquired it on their last trip to Terra and Nebula was the only (lucky? unfortunate?) one to know what she had been writing diligently on it.

"Need...help..." Nebula would have thought she meant for herself, but one look at the way her sister sent a pained expression to the journal showed otherwise. At her dying moments, her sister prioritized help for others. For the millionth time, Nebula admired and cursed her sister's willingness to help. "I-I _tried_..."

Blood was dripping out of her mouth at this point. The color red stood out and Nebula's thoughts were snapped back into place.

"QUILL!" She screamed out three times before she heard a faint response and knew they were on their way. Of course, Nebula could have gone looking for them herself, but there was absolutely no way she would leave this spot for now.

"I tried..." Gamora strained to say once more, and Nebula saw a tear fall out in desperation. "I want... I wanted to _live_..."

The words hit more than it should have and Nebula could do nothing but blindly grasp her sister's hand, her own tears threatening to fall. "I...I'm sorry for being the worst sister."

A small lift of pale green lips. "N-No...I love...you."

"GAMORA!" A shout had broken the silence of their surroundings. "NO!" It sounded so broken, so hurt. And Quill had rushed and found his way beside Gamora, the rest quickly following as they watched one of their own slip away.

Rocket had been a mess the moment he saw what was happening and was trying to find a way to save her, but everyone saw the inevitability of it. Mantis had burst into tears, Drax had stood so still with pain in his eyes, and Groot was trying to approach from the other side and just hold her hand, evidently holding back tears. None of these things had processed with Nebula because she saw Quill's jacket.

It was covered in dust from their crash landing (it feel like days? years? since it happened) but it was red.

So much red.

Nebula clutched the journal tightly in her pocket, trying to erase the color of red invading her mind. Everything was a blur after that.

She distinctly remembers that they had a funeral of some sorts, has unclear memories of removing _her_ body from the damned rock, and vaguely hears the sound of silence that reigned over their ship for a day or two. But Nebula can't erase the stupid _red_ and the way her sister's eyes glazed over as she gave in to the pain.

It took a while, but she found the strength to take the journal and open it. Nebula didn't know that some papers had been detached from it and wasn't able to catch it as it fell to the ground. But these papers weren't part of the journal and its purpose, because it had each of their names to it.

Six folded pieces of papers and one of it had her name written at the top.

She took it silently, folded it up, and stuck it in her pocket to read for another time. The rest she held with the journal in her hands as she made her way to the common area. The rest of the crew were there, but no one made any acknowledgement of her presence.

"She wrote us letters." Then threw them at the table for the rest to see. Mantis was the first to stand, Drax quickly following.

"What is that." A voice hoarse from lack of use whispered and she turned to see Quill - still in that same damn red jacket.

"Letters." She responded in the same tone. "Like I said."

Drax shook his head. "How could she write us letters? She is...gone."

"It looks like she wrote these a long time ago." Her voice was still empty, lacking all emotion. "She had to prepare them."

"Had to?" Rocket repeated with a bit of spite in his voice. "Did she think we were gonna let her die?"

Nebula closed her eyes and tried to stay sane, even just a little bit. Quill and Rocket had begun an argument of sorts, and it was stupid, but she knew they were in pain. That's all it was. That's all she was feeling.

"I am Groot." A weak voice joined in and shut the conversation down. They looked at the direction he was pointing and saw Nebula holding Gamora's journal. She took a few steps forward and rested it on the table, opening it to the first page before they could say anything else.

"We need to get to Terra." She started, determined. "There's something you need to know."

**_《A》_**

**_"I've got a hunger and thirst for adventure_**

**_I wanna travel the galaxy"_**

**— Team Starkid, _"I Wanna Be"_**

**《A》**

**Ngl the last bits felt really empty to me too, because I felt like Nebula would just be empty and I didnt really know how to convey that through writing? Plus it was emotionally tiring for me to write this chapter because I genuinely felt sad when i remembered gamora and tony so I didnt properly double check it, sorry for the mistakes. This took a while and idk when the next would come but hope yall stay with me. **

**Dont you just love the idea of Gamora coloring her hair blue to match her sister, I feel robbed.**

_fin_jul242019_23:38_


	4. Twisted

**It's been so long but here's the next one. Im supposed to have a new chapter up by Tuesday next week too, but dont trust me on that**

**_《A》_**

**_"Death needed the unparalleled magic of perfectly-timed coincidences for the third one."_**

**_《A》_**

Narui just wanted this feast to be done and over with. But, alas, their King is a jolly, sociable, enthusiastic man who loved to use up the kingdom's resources for feasts galore every bleeding week, and yet, the staff of the castle werenever really ever prepared for it. To add to that, today was an extra special one (but let it be known that the King finds all things special enough for a feast) because there were great guests — the royalty of Asgard.

Would they still be considered royalty? Narui rolled her eyes as she brought her tray of plates to set up in the hall.Asgard is, after all, no more. The news of it has quickly spread among the Nine Realms and the little kingdom she had found a new home in was not an exception. So all of this hard work for a bunch of former spoiled royal brats who probably didn't know the basics of caring for their people. Last she heard, the Asgardians had been forced to settle in the lowly realm ofMidgard of all places.

_How far and low the mighty warriors have fallen,_ Narui thought bitterly as she placed down another plate with more force than needed.

"Did you hear?" Farrah muttered as she moved toset up the goblets beside Narui. "Asgardian royalty as guests today! Exciting, isn't it?"

Narui shrugged halfheartedly.

"Don't be that way." Farrah giggled. "From what I've heard, they were invited as guests for their help in the nearby village. Asgardians really have changed now, haven't they? The great mighty warrior Prince Thor from the past—well, I suppose he is King now—would be interested in helping out a small village for the sake of battle. But never would I have thought that _Prince Loki_ would do the same! With all the tales of his mischief and trickery, of course–"

"Prince Loki?" Narui cut off the other servant's ramblings. "Prince _Loki_ is here?"

"Yes, yes," Farrah eagerly nodded, not at all minding that she was interrupted. "I do love a good redemption story, and seeing him turn from a misled, miserable prince to one who reaches out to others in need is _so_ satisfying. It really gives me hope for thefuture. Perhaps our King may soon learn a lesson or two from them." Farrah whispered the last sentence conspiratorially.

Narui heard none of Farrah's ramblings, stuck on the fact that Loki would be gracing them with his presence. A million thoughts ran through her head, and she needed to move. Shecould vaguely remember weaklyexcusing herself with all of her focus being on her path to her room

* * *

"What is it that you busy yourself writing, brother?" Thor inquired as they waited for the call for dinner. He sat comfortably on the armchair in the room Loki was given, which he had seeked out after washing all the blood and soil off his body from the battle today. His brother was on the bed, dressed for the feast, and furiously scribbling something on the leather journal he had been carrying around since their last visit to Midgard.

Loki spared him a glance. The speed at which he was writing betrayed the calm expression on his face. "You will found out someday, Thor."

Thor continued to watch Loki suspiciously and had half the mind to just try and grab at the journal. However, he knew minutes before a feast was not a good idea to incur his brother's wrath, lest he wants all his food to taste bland (as previous experiences would suggest).

He will be patient and wait for his brother to reveal it.

Or maybe he will sneak a peek tonight.

_Yes_, he resolved. Tonight, Thor will find out the contents of the journal. But the focus for now would be trying to enjoy the feast and maybe find the time to go see the sunset before they retire for the night. The servant who had guided them to their rooms, Daegal, had gushed about how beautiful the sunsets were from the castle.

Theknock on the door was the cue for them to stand from their places and walk to the door. Daegal was there once more and kindly greeted them before leading them to the hall.

The king, whatever his name was, had greeted themboisterously from his seat as soon as they entered. They were quickly ushered to their seats at the front table — Thor beside the king, Loki beside Thor — and were told to dig in. Thor was dragged into a conversation about battles, which Loki had effectively avoided, and was swept up in his own regaling of his past marvelous fights.

The God of Thunder was enthused by the good stories, the good food, and the neverending flow of good wine. He kept trying to include his brother in the discussions (though Loki seemed more inclined to call them 'loud chattering'), but eventually stopped after his brother had managed to stab him on the foot when he tried again.

It didn't really hurt, of course, but Thor can take a message.

He still kept an eye out for him. Noticing Loki preferred the sweeter parts of the feast, Thor would subtly push those towards him. When seemed to get bored, Thor would ask with a look if he'd like to leave, to which Loki would just wave him off and busy himself with small magicaltricks on some of the unsuspecting guests. And the moment Loki abruptly stood up with a tight grip on Thor's arm, Thor already had his eyes on him.

"Loki, what—" He was interrupted by a quick, incomprehensible mumbling of an excuse before rushing out of the hall.

No one else seemed to notice his brother's sudden departure, so he had politely excused himself to the King by saying he needs to retire and rest after all thetravelling and battles, who took a few minutes to encourage his people to applaud him again in thanks. Thor immediately rushed through the door as soon as he was able.

"Would you like to be escorted to your room, sire?" A female servant asked, but he was in such a rush, he didn't even notice her and how Narui was trying to stop her grin.

* * *

This is where the coincidence comes into play.

Narui wasn't born in this kingdom. She was an Asgardian until just a few years ago. It was only her and her father, and they were happy with their lives. Born into a well-off family, she had suitors lining up at her door to get her attention.Instead of being a servant, she had _two_ just to personally attend to her needs!She was practically _royalty_ in the towns!

But a couple of years back, her father's business was stopped by Odin, who claimed it wasn't allowed within the laws of Asgard. The trading her father did was suddenly shut down and they lost all of the clients and all of the money within a few days.

All the potential suitors that Narui had suddenly gave her a cold shoulder as she and her father justtried to survive. With the loss of trust people had in their trade due to the All-Father himself condemning it, they had to find a way out of Asgard and into another town in another realm where they could get by.

Unfortunately, that town wasn't the most put-together of them all, and Narui and her father had to go through several raids. It was still going well and all until one of the raids prove too strong and someone decided to start a fire.

Her father didn't make it. They tried healing the burns all over his face and body, but with a lack of proper medicine, it only got infected and worse. She lost her only family left, and the house she was finally beginning to build another life on was burnt to ashes.

Someone passes by those who were healing from the incident and claimed he has work for those who needed it. With nothing left, Narui decided to follow the man who spoke of tales about other realms. And from him, she learned that Loki, the disgraced, supposedly dead, second Prince of Asgard had been disguising as Odin for a while now.

Since then, she saw red everytime that damned prince's name was mentioned.

And a week ago, she had arrived in this kingdom as a new servant.

Her father's business had involved knowing a lot about plants, which caused Narui to learn about them too. Narui didn't hear of how Loki had helped save them all (though, there's doubt it would have changed how she felt). Narui is a new servant who was assigned to picking herbs from the gardens and the forest. Narui is a new servant who doesn't know exactly how unjust their king could be around here (because if she knew a small mistake in the feast would result in the entire staff being punished in some way, she might have rethought her plan). Narui is a pretty servant who was given the opportunity to serve wine to the guests.

And it all just came together terribly well,didn't it?

* * *

The halls were silent and empty as Thor rushed through it, tracing his steps back to Loki's room. He's not exactly sure where Loki could have gone or why he was such a rush, but there was a bad feeling creeping up his spine and the room was the best place to start.

He burst through the door open and noted the empty room. But as he was about to leave to check somewhere else, he saw a vial of blue potion he noticed to be one of Loki's on the floor that hadn't been there when they left. Thor picked it up and went lookingaround the room more carefully.

It didn't take long for him to find his brother sprawled on the floor, hidden from his sight by the large bed, his case of potions making a mess around him. Some of the potions mixed together as the vials were cracked, and Thor at least knew the basics of how dangerous that could be so he quickly carried his brother up and onto the bed.

Only then did he see how terrible the situation was. Loki wasn't breathing well. He was gasping for air and his skin was turning the shade of blue Loki had always been careful to hide. Some violet liquid was dripping out of his mouth, and all his veins were visible and black across his face and his eyes.

It reminded Thor too much of the times he truly thought Loki was dying, and there is unbearable pain in his heart when he realizes it.

"What-" Thor rushed, scanning the survivingpotions on the floor. "What do I do? What do you need? This? This." He grabbed at the red one he recognized as a healing potion and urged Loki to swallow it down. "Loki, _nothing's happening_." He struggled to say a second later, not noticing the tears already falling from his eyes.

He showed Loki the vial of blue potion he found earlier. "Will this help? Loki, please, try to answer me." He was rewarded with a forced nod and quickly removed the stopped before pouring it down his brother's mouth. Thor waited impatiently for a few seconds before noticing that his breathing was steadying. But the tension in Thor's shoulders did not disappear.

"It's inevitable." Loki rasped out as soon as he was able.

_His skin was still partly blue._

"What?" Thor asked numbly.

_The violet liquid still flowed._

Loki moved to retrieve something from his pocket. The brown leather journal was handed to Thor, who stared at it without understanding.

_The veins were still black and everywhere._

"Loki, what do you need?" Thor asked again, but there was this heavy feeling in his chest that was becoming stronger.

"This…There's nothing I could do now." Loki weakly reached out to pull Thor and rests their foreheads against each other, the way they've always done ever since they were young. "There's no cure for this. I'm sorry."

_Thor could feel Loki's hand behind his neck trembling._

He pulled away at those words and went back to scanning the potions. "No, no," he shook his head. "There must be _something_ we could do. i'll bring you to their healer."

Loki closed his eyes, his breathing becoming more like shortgasps of air again. "There is no cure for this."

"Don't say that."

"I truly am sorry for everything."

"Shut up."

Loki opened his eyes and cracked a smile at Thor. "I'm sorry."

"No," Thor sobbed. "This is one of your tricks."

Loki looked pained."Ah, no. I'm sorry."

"You _told_ me," Thor gripped his brother's hand tighter. "You told me that the sun would shine on us again."

Loki smiled, and his eyes trailed to the window. Thor followed and saw the sunset he had been hearing about, but the beauty of it just fills him with anger.

"It did." Thor looked back to see Loki closing his eyes once more, for the last time. "And soon it will onlyshine on you, brother."

The room grows darker as the sun has properly set, and the anguished cries of the mourning brother was greeted by the night.

**_《A》_**

**_"Why protect my reputation?_**

**_I'm a dead man either way._**

**_I'll never be the hero_**

**_All the citizens adore"_**

**_— Team Starkid, "Twisted"_**

**_《A》_**

**I read something that kind of made me feel different about this fic, hence the long update, but i will finish it !! Ill explain why when its all done bc i guess its part of the message of this fic anyway**

**Really sorry for the long wait, and i hopeyoure all staying safe !!**

_fin_aug102020_15:32_


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